Because the Bengals’ new offensive coordinator, Hue Jackson, has just been talking up one of his former players, Darren McFadden, there is speculation he would push to add the free-agent-to-be running back in Cincinnati. Jackson coached McFadden in Oakland when he was the Raiders’ offensive coordinator and head coach.

"He's still one of my favorite players," Jackson told a California radio station (via ESPN.com). "What a tremendous talent. Somebody's going to get a really good football player here in the future if he doesn't stay there in Oakland, and I just wish him the best.”

McFadden has been injured plenty during his six-year NFL career, never playing more than 13 games, last in 2010, when Jackson was the coordinator in Oakland. In the last three seasons, it’s been seven, 12 and 10. But maybe Jackson has been having flashbacks to that 2010 season, when McFadden, a powerful runner, averaged over 5 yards a rush and totaled 1,157 along with 47 receptions for 507 yards. This year, he gained 379 yards, averaging 3.3 a carry, and caught 17 passes for 108 yards.

Healthy or not and regardless of Jackson’s nostalgia for what McFadden did for him in Oakland, he makes no sense as an addition to the Bengals. Running back is not a position of concern. Many teams would love to have a combination like the reliable BenJarvus Green-Ellis and the dynamic Giovani Bernard. They rushed for over 1,400 yards between the two of them.

As Coley Harvey wrote at ESPN.com: “The Bengals' running game doesn't need fixing. All it needs is life. If Cincinnati ran as often during this past season as it appears it will next season, the Bengals could have had two 800-yard rushers, and might still be competing in the playoffs.”